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Monday, July 4, 2016

4 July - Blogs I'm Following

In my last post, I lamented that Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, despite his outrageous series of slurs against different groups, his lies, and unscrupulous business practices. Before exploring what arguments might persuade Republicans and undecideds to vote against Trump, what other substantive objections are there to Trump? Trump has policy stances and utterances, based […]

John Laesch our old friend-- a union carpenter and the former Illinois congressional candidate who began the process of ending Denny Hastert's disgraceful career-- is still very much a Democratic Party activist in Illinois. When the House voted to grant President Obama fast track authority to ram the TPP through Congress with minimal fuss and bother, Illinois House delegation was split-- 9 for and 9 against... but then a few days before the vote one of the crooks in the delegation, pro-TPP Aaron Schock, was forced to resign in a corruption scandal that's still unfolding. In the e...more »

About 200 of us were on the picket lines today. Despite the blazing temperatures, our spirits were high. We waved our signs and our flags, showing our pride to every passerby. *Media* I did interviews with the Toronto Star, CBC (we were at 6:00 PM), CTV, CP24, the Mississauga News, and the labour newspaper Rank and File. Here are some links: Toronto Star: Mississauga Workers' Strike Shuts Down 18 Public Libraries Mississauga News: Union President Says Situation For Mississauga's Library Workers Is 'Precarious' And 'Stressful' CBC: Mississauga Libraries To Close Monday As Workers...more »

[image: Woodrow Wilson High School in N.W. Washington, D.C.] Many of the 88,000 kids in the District of Columbia's public and charter schools actually live in Maryland, with parents enrolling them illegally, an investigation from The Daily Caller News Foundation found. TheDCNF spent a month observing pick up/drop off times, tallying...more »

An internal document acknowledging that Queen Elizabeth is a shapeshifting reptilian was briefly published as a press release on the Royal Family’s official website yesterday before being taken down – but not before alert internet users captured screenshots of the extraordinary article and proof that the press release appeared on Google. It is understood that the press release was a highly classified internal document designed to be released in case of emergency – for example, if the Queen was seen shapeshifting by thousands of people at a public event and the demand for an explanati...more »

Hundreds of people say they witnessed a huge UFO hovering over the city for 10 hours on Independence Day. Witnesses feared that Earth was about to be invaded by aliens, or that government departments were experimenting with alien technology, as they watched a spectacular UFO hover over Shanghai, China, all night. Express.co.uk reports: One witness, a man named as Mr Yeng, said he observed it through a telescope and saw it flash red, yellow and blue. He was with friends who also saw it from Songhu Road, saying they had no idea what it was, and describing it as “suspended in the night...more »

The federal government have ruled that a farmer from California plowing his own land is committing an “illegal” act that could land him in jail. In 2013, the Army Corps of Engineers, ordered the owners of Duarte Nursery to stop using their land after they allegedly violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) for ‘illegally’ plowing it. Freedomworks.org reports: The California court agreed with the federal government’s action, despite the fact the CWA specifically exempts normal agricultural activities like plowing from regulation. This overreaching assertion of federal power is not an isola...more »

The Kremlin have told their top commanders to prepare for an all-out war with NATO as Russia conduct massive air defence exercises at the Erebuni military airbase in Armenia to prepare troops for the real thing. According to a Ministry of Defense report, NATO are rapidly building up tens of thousands of troops on the Western Front in readiness for the coming war. Whatdoesitmean.com reports: According to this report, grave questions as to what, if any, American-NATO forces President Obama is actually in charge of emerged last week when on Monday (27 June) the Obama regime transmitte...more »

Solar physicists from Germany have issued a warning that Europe is about to enter a mini ice age in the next few years. Scientists at the ultra-warmist Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) say that the current solar minimum suggests the continent is about to suffer a miniature ice-age. Scott.net reports: The Berliner Kurier writes: “That’s the conclusion that solar physicists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research reached when looking at solar activity.” For an institute that over the past 20 years has steadfastly insisted that man has been almost the ...more »

INSA is a hugely powerful and influential coalition that ‘works’ for the NSA but in reality, it seems, they’re more like a ‘shadow NSA’ without any real government oversight or accountability. Thenation.com reports: In recent years, it has become the premier organization for the men and women who run the massive cyber intelligence-industrial complex that encircles Washington, DC. The keynote speaker was Matthew Olsen, who was then the director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He used his talk to bolster the morale of his colleagues, which had recently been stung by t...more »

The head of Britain’s Royal Navy has said that Tony Blair made the decision to invade Iraq long before any UN resolution was passed. The decision to go to war in Iraq was made before Tony Blair made the news public, ‘but they were looking for a reason’ to do it, Admiral Lord West has said. Dailymail.co.uk reports: Lord West said: ‘I think there had been a decision that we were going to invade Iraq, that that was going to happen, but they were looking for a reason to actually do it.’ It is not known when Admiral West, who served as a security minister in Gordon Brown’s government and...more »

Members of Congress have vowed to fight the corrupt election system and end voter suppression once and for all. A group of Congress members have launched a new organisations called the Voting Rights Caucus aimed at defending democracy during elections. Truth-out.org reports: The voting rights struggle led by Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, marked the beginning of a steady march of progress toward true electoral democracy. Yet 50 years later, we see that progress reversing dramatically since the Shelby v. Holder decision of June 25, 2013. In that decision, the Supreme Cour...more »

Today is indeed "Independence Day" in the United States.. On this day some 240 years ago, the colonials in the original 13 colonies comprising British North America decided that they had had enough of the British crown and illegal taxation and declared themselves as an "independent" nation.... Or so it seems, for as I stated in my weekend rant, the United States of America is absolutely NOT free of the British crown and in fact the US Government continues to pay "tribute" to that fraud and phoney monarchy.... I again ask anyone that actually thinks I am kidding to simply Google: "Am...more »

NATO have agreed to enhance its military presence on Russia’s border, in the largest buildup since the Cold War. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a summit of members in Warsaw that NATO will enhance its military presence in the eastern part of the alliance. “We will deploy four robust, multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. I welcome Canada’s recent announcement that it will lead one of these four battalions,” Stoltenberg said. Rt.com reports: ‘Doubled’ #NATO activity on Russian borders forces Moscow to respond – Russian MoD https://t.co/v0RpbN5U0...more »

[image: tony_evans_1000] In an interview with Stream founder and publisher James Robison and his wife, Betty, Dallas TX pastor and author Tony Evans says what he believes it will take to bring America back from the brink. Citing an example of the utter chaos that...more »

Chuck Schumer, in a mad rush to placate the Wall Street banksters angry about Elizabeth Warrem and Bernie Sanders being mean to them, promised he would deliver the Florida Senate nomination to their most dependable errand boy in Congress, Patrick Murphy. In doing so-- without adequately vetting the fatally flawed Murphy-- Schumer would be handing the competitive seat over to the GOP... if not for Alan Grayson, although Schumer and Harry Reid have worked long and hard to smear and destroy the House's most independent-minded and effective member. If Schumer misses becoming Majority...more »

*Ok, one quick post- Just too good to pass up- The identity politics battle plays it out on the means streets of Toronto-** "Black Lives Matter" VS Pride Paraders* *Classic divide to Conquer! And all this occuring while Justin Trudeau was marching with an aids infected Syrian refugee- How many hot button memes in this news alone!** (It's the theatre of the absurd and I can't resist)* *My identity politics are more important then your identity politics says' Pride organizer- na, na, na, na, na, nahhhhhhhh **:P* * ‘Pride is bigger’: Organizer says Black Lives Matter demands are star...more »

People inspect the site of a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area in Baghdad. Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters *Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post*: *The worst ISIS attack in days is the one the world probably cares least about* First, they came for Istanbul. On Tuesday night, three suspected Islamic State militants launched a brazen assault on Turkey's main airport, exploding their suicide vests after gunning down numerous passengers and airport staff. At least 45 people were killed. The world panicked; Istanbul Ataturk Airport is one of the busiest hubs in Europe and the Middle Ea...more »

*Reuters:* *Suicide bombers hit three Saudi cities* Suicide bombers struck three cities across Saudi Arabia on Monday, in an apparently coordinated campaign of attacks as Saudis prepared to break their fast on the penultimate day of the holy month of Ramadan. The explosions targeting U.S. diplomats, Shi'ite worshippers and a security headquarters at a mosque in the holy city of Medina follow days of mass killings claimed by the Islamic State group, in Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq. The attacks all seem to have been timed to coincide with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that...more »

*Eric Hyer, National Interest:* *The U.S. and Japan May Literally Start a War over Rocks in the South China Sea* *Washington’s commitment to Tokyo may endanger American security.* China’s increasingly truculent behavior in the East and South China Seas has generated apprehension over China’s intentions and deepened U.S. concerns, especially over freedom of navigation, land reclamation and the potential militarization of disputed features by China. Analysis has focused primarily on the law of the sea, the legitimacy of China’s expansive claims that are now being challenged by the P...more »

An F-15 fighter jet in Japan’s Self-Defense Force during a flight exercise. Credit Ko Sasaki for The New York Times *Reuters*: *China criticizes Japan over 'dangerous' jet scramble* *China strongly criticized Japan over a scramble of military aircraft from the two countries on Monday amid a dispute over islands in the East China Sea.* Two Japanese fighter jets took "provocative actions" at a high speed near a pair of Chinese fighter jets that were carrying out patrols in the East China Sea on June 17, China's defense ministry said in a micro blog statement on Monday, without speci...more »

*The Stanford 'Rape' Trial* *There was no rape at all. Brock Turner was convicted of assault only. Was even that conviction unjustified? David Solway has a sober look at the evidence and finds something not unlike the Salem witch trials* We live in a culture that has become so heavily sexualized that we are no longer able to see clearly or think rationally. Just about everything, it seems, now comes down to sex, which is, on any reasonable scale of values, merely one of many human preoccupations—central, of course, but still only one of many human interests, desires and activiti...more »

[image: Grimes] You may have thought John Key was genuine when he’s talked about fixing the crisis in affordable housing – despite his deliberate tardiness in even acknowledging the crisis. That isn’t the only thing about which he’s been deliberate. Key’s visceral overreaction reaction to economist Arthur Grimes’s quite sensible proposal to reduce Auckland home prices by 40% reveals all you need to know about how serious he is about achieving affordable housing. Answer: he isn't, and would run a mile before allowing it, or anything remotely like it, to happen on his watch. ...more »

*Is the Tesla bubble about to burst?* *How long can they keep running in the red? They're nice cars but if you want one maybe you should buy one now -- while they last* Add yet another problem to the list at Tesla Motors: lackluster growth. Tesla announced on Sunday that it delivered 14,370 vehicles in the second quarter. That is well below its own forecast of about 17,000, which it gave in May. Although sales of its Model X grew significantly from the first quarter, its signature Model S sedan actually saw sales fall sequentially by more than 22%. That is surprising since Tesla ...more »

Straight talk on international affairs from Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein. Sheikh Imran Hosein was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1942 from parents whose ancestors had migrated as indentured labourers from India. He is a graduate of the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi and has studied at several institutions of higher learning including the University of Karachi, the University of the West Indies, Al Azhar University and the Graduate Institute of International Relations in Switzerland. He worked for several years as a Foreign Service Officer in the Minist...more »

‘Star Wars’ and the Fantasy of American ViolenceNew York Times Opinion By Roy Scranton For a long time after I came home from the war, fireworks made me jumpy. They sounded like what they are, shrieking rockets and exploding gunpowder, and every Fourth of July set off Alert Level Yellow. I’d crack another beer and try to laugh it off even as the friends I was with turned into ghosts of the soldiers I once knew. Thirteen years ago, I spent the Fourth of July on the roof of a building in Baghdad that had once belonged to Saddam Hussein’s secret police. Our command had suspended mis...more »

I watched this rather nasty hearing on the subject of antisemitism by the Home Affairs Committee, chaired as usual by Keith Vaz, who opened proceedings with a few warm remarks about his long-standing friendship with the chief witness. Towards the end of the hearing Jeremy Corbyn was asked if Shami Chakrabarti’s report clarified what antisemitism is. He duly obliged with the following definition: “Antisemitism is where you use epithets to criticise people for being Jewish, you attack Jewish people for what they are, it is completely unacceptable, and I would have thought it’s very o...more »

On Monday Iraqis began three days of mourning for 213 people killed by suicide bombers in a deadly attack in Baghdad over the weekend. Takfiri ISIL terrorists claimed responsibility for two car bomb attacks in a busy Baghdad shopping district on Sunday, in the deadliest attack on the capital this year. Almanar reports: The blast hit the Karrada district early Sunday as the area was packed with shoppers ahead of this week’s holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced three days of national mourning for the victims as he vis...more »

If you recall, I found last Friday's *Newsnight *- the one with James O'Brien - to be *deeply* biased. David Keighley at *News-watch *doesn't just agree, he's also put a huge stick of dynamite under the programme's deeply dodgy use of statistics. It's a must-read post. *Newsnight *and Ipsos MORI had co-operated on a post-Referendum poll and that night's *Newsnight *gave its take on the findings. Here's an extract from James O'Brien's introduction: And what about buyer’s remorse? All those voters who supposedly want to change their minds? Well, maybe not. 92% of respondents sa...more »

Elizabeth Warren, like FDR who saved capitalism from its own excesses, isn't much liked by banksters and capitalists. The banksters have spent more money trying to defeat her than they have on any other Senate candidate in recent years-- although at the rate they're contributing against Alan Grayson's campaign in Florida-- he could soon catch up with her. "Strong healthy markets," Warren explained in a keynote address last week at the New America think tank in DC, "are the key to a strong, healthy America." That doesn't sound anti-capitalist to me. "Anyone who lovees markets know...more »

A suicide bomber has struck outside one of the holiest sites in Islam, the Prophet’s Mosque in the Saudi city of Medina. Al-Masjid an-Nabawi is a mosque that was originally established and built by prophet Muhammad himself. Three security officers and a suicide bomber were killed in the blast. RT reports: WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO Saudi TV news network Al-Arabiya reported that the three men were breaking their Ramadan fast, when they spotted the attacker. Monday is the last night of the holy month of Ramadan, and ushers in the beginning of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calend...more »

[image: Tim Tebow visits Extra at Universal Studios Hollywood on June 7, 2016 in Universal City, California.] Six days ago, Tim Tebow helped a woman whose husband suffered a heart attack on a flight from Atlanta to Phoenix. Although Tebow said nothing about it, a passenger’s Facebook post went viral, being shared 19,000 times and picked up by outlets...more »

[image: North Yorkshire countryside near Robin Hoods Bay. Farm gate and pasture with distant cliffs and farm houses. No people.] Here’s a good hymn for the Fourth of July you’ve probably never heard sung in your church. “A Hymn” -- better known by the first line “O God of earth and altar” -- was written by the great Christian writer...more »

RINF, CounterPunch, Countercurrents, Global Research Don't take free content on the web for granted. Please read *this* When people don’t possess sufficient expertise on matters, they require simplicity. They desire easily manageable packages of knowledge, and these packages become taken for granted stocks of ‘common sense’ that enable them to cope with or to understand the world around them, no matter how faulty or misrepresented that ‘knowledge’ may be. Powerful corporations and the media recognise people’s need for simplicity. And here lies the problem. To rally the masses around...more »

Iraqi PM Haidar al-Abadi orders security forces to stop using a British-made fake bomb detector after bombings in Baghdad claimed the lives of at least 131 people on Saturday. British businessman James McCormick who sold the hand-held wands to Iraq was jailed for fraud some years ago. Middle East Eye reports: The suicide car bombing, which was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, ripped through a busy shopping in the early hours and also wounded more than 180 people, officials said. Abadi’s orders highlight one of the longest-running and most grievous flaws in Baghdad security:...more »

Today's format is different because I'm writing it Sunday evening and adding the irving press part early Monday morning. With luck, that will get me to a sunny day at the beach. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/06/18/canada-willingly-makes-tax-deals-with-tax-havens.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-offshore-treaties-barbados-tax-avoidance-1.3641278 Tax havens must be the cause of the biggest robbery in history. And we are the victims. This is our money. If I broke into a convenience story to steal all the candy, I'd face jail time. There are Canadians who have been ...more »

By Paul Homewood https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/will-the-uk-sizzle-this-summer/ Readers may recall the battle of the weather forecasters a month ago. While the Met Office “experts” forecast we could be sizzling in 33C temperatures this summer, amateur weatherman, David King, who uses nature to arrive at his forecasts, came to a much different conclusion: I cannot agree […]

[image: Italian journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi, left, and Emiliano Fittipaldi, arrive for a hearing of their trial, at the Vatican, Monday, July 4, 2016. Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement face trial in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs.] VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Prosecutors asked a Vatican tribunal on Monday to absolve one journalist and give a suspended, one-year sentence to another for publishing books based on confidential Vatican documents exposing ...more »

*Daily Mail*: *Horrifying moment a taxi driver is surrounded by riot cops and beaten with truncheons on the floor... during a protest about police brutality in Zimbabwe * * Violent clashes between Zimbabwean police and protesters resulted in 30 arrests as a riot broke out in Harare * Demonstrators forced to lie down in dusty roads and battered by truncheons as police use tear gas and dogs * Protest over a number of issues including economic hardship, police brutality and Robert Mugabe's government * A journalist saw protesters severely beat two police officers with sticks before ta...more »

Russian Aircraft Carrier “Kuznetsov,” January 1996. WIKIMEDIA/Commons *Daily Mail*: *Russia to send its largest warship to Syria as Putin prepares final push to destroy ISIS * * Admiral Kuzetnov battleship is equipped with fighter helicopters and jets * Aircraft carrier will be based close to Syria so troops can attack and return * Move comes in the wake of attacks on the weekend in Baghdad and Dhaka * The 305m ship will lead Russia's Navy presence in the Mediterranean Sea VLADIMIR Putin is preparing to send Russia's biggest battleship to Syria to crush ISIS at source. The Admiral...more »

BBC *Al Jazeera*: *Saudi Arabia: Explosions near Medina and Qatif mosques* Suicide blast reported at Prophet's Mosque in Medina as witnesses say body parts of presumed bomber seen in Qatif. Two people have been killed in an explosion outside the Prophet's Mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina, sources told Al Jazeera. Photos on social media show smoke billowing from a fire outside the mosque where Prophet Muhammad is buried. Two other explosions struck near a mosque in the eastern city of Qatif on the Gulf coast on Monday evening, residents said. Witnesses said a suicide bom...more »

Islamic State/ISIS militants linked to the Sunni sect of Islam were paid 600,000 euros to carry out a bombing campaign in over 50 locations in Tehran and other major cities in predominantly Shi’ite Iran, according to an Islamic Republic TV documentary. Reuters reports: Officials in predominantly Shi’ite Iran have said in recent weeks that Sunni militants from Islamic State are targeting the country. Two weeks ago, Iranian intelligence authorities said they had foiled a large-scale terrorist attack, arresting 10 militants, and had seized about 100 kilograms of explosive material that...more »

A device used by Iraqi forces to detect bombs and other weapons at checkpoints has been called useless by the American military. Credit Johan Spanner for The New York Times *Reuters*: *Iraq PM Abadi orders police to stop using fake bomb detectors* Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security services on Sunday to stop using fake bomb detectors at checkpoints after a bombing killed at least 120 people in Baghdad in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Reacting after the deadliest attack so far this year, Abadi also ordered a new investigation at the interior ministry into "c...more »

*Al Jazeera*: *Iraq: Baghdad bombing kills more than 200* *Anger grows as Baghdad residents accuse Iraqi government of failing to protect them after ISIL attack kills over 200.* Anger is growing in Baghdad over the government's failure to protect civilians, after a devastating bombing in a crowded commercial area in the Iraqi capital killed more than 200 people, including many children. The powerful explosion early on Sunday came near the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when the streets were filled with young people and families out after sunset. *Read more* .... *More...more »

*Washington Times*: *CIA caught off guard by Islamic State’s rise in post-Moammar Gadhafi Libya* CIA chieftains were caught off guard by the spiraling Islamic violence in postwar Libya, suddenly realizing that analysts had never brainstormed what the country would look like and that the White House had not asked. The agency also acknowledged in a classified report that Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s U.S.-deposed dictator, had long suppressed a variety of radical Islamic groups, including al Qaeda, from taking root in his country and endangering North Africa. Today, absent Gadhafi’s iron...more »

*CNN*: *Charred bodies still being pulled from Baghdad bombing that killed 200* (CNN)Nearly two days after a suicide truck bomb ripped through Baghdad, families are still hoping that rescuers searching through the rubble can locate the bodies of their loved ones. The Saturday night attack on a busy shopping district was the deadliest single incident in the Iraq's war-weary capital in years, killing at least 200 people, Mohamed al-Rubaye‎, the deputy head of the security committee of the Baghdad Provincial Council, said on Afaq TV Monday. Crews are still on the scene in the Karrad...more »

*BBC*: *China to hold military drills in South China Sea* China will hold military drills in the disputed South China Sea, ahead of a ruling by an international court on a challenge to its maritime claims. They will be held in waters around the Paracel Islands, said a statement by the maritime safety administration. China regularly holds such exercises even though Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the seas. But tensions are running high ahead of the ruling expected next week. The Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, Net...more »

The Mk 19 has been in use since the Vietnam War. (Photo: Sgt. Katryn Tuton/Army) *Army Times*: *Army building a better grenade machine gun* A belt-fed grenade machine gun may sound deadly enough, but the Army wants to make the Mk 19 even more lethal, with improvements that could be fielded as early as 2018. The goal? Improve the weapon’s muzzle velocity, cyclic rate (rounds per minute), reliability, ease of assembly, and accuracy. The Army is pursuing this laundry list of objectives separately, with plans to later combine them into one upgrade package. Testing is expected in fisc...more »

(Hobe, Holger Behr/Public domain via commons) *Steve Mollman, Quartz*: *“To deal with dogs, we should use a stick”—Chinese cheer military drills in the disputed South China Sea* China will conduct military drills in the contested South China Sea this week, ratcheting up tensions ahead of a tribunal ruling expected to challenge its claims to most of the strategically important sea. China’s territorial claims overlap in parts with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan in an area that holds vast energy and marine resources and through which more than $5 trill...more »

Sent to the New York Post, July 4, 2016 The Post has declared war on teachers and school administrators. Recent issues contain story after story about educators' misdeeds: administrators encouraging cheating on exams, teachers having sex with students, and financial mismanagement. Often there is no clear evidence for the accusations. "School leaders allow cheating ‘to boost the numbers’: staffers" (July 3), for example, is based on the word of unnamed "staffers"and "whistle-blowers." Nor are we told how frequently these horrible things happen. The real problem with education is r...more »

Bill Clinton did Hillary no favours last week when he "accidentally" met with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. However, he did give Donald Trump lots of ammunition to use against "crooked Hillary:" Michael Harris writes: The way Trump tells it, Hillary is a kind of entrepreneurial Benedict Arnold, personally raking in millions along with her famous husband under the guise of philanthropy. Trump insists that she shouldn’t be running for president: she should be making muffins in the same cell once used by Martha Stewart to refine her skills of insider-baking. But when it comes...more »

An off-duty NYPD officer shot dead a 37-year-old man in front of his wife and kids during a road rage incident in Brooklyn. The Daily Mail reports: Two cars almost collided on Atlantic Avenue and Bradford St. in Cypress Hill around midnight on Sunday. Delron (Smalls) Dempsey, 37, got out of his Kia EX and approached the other car involved, a Nissan Altima. The officer sat in his Nissan as the confrontation flared up. Father-of-three, Dempsey, then attacked the sitting officer through the car window, according to police. He is then said to have fired at Dempsey three times because he ...more »

The last paragraph of this BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36700667 on the latest Islamist terrorist attack, this time in Dhaka, could make someone say 'unless'. '"My son used to pray five times a day from a young age. But we never imagined this. There was nothing at home, no books or anything to indicate he was leaning that way, So we had no inkling."' Unless it was a book he read regularly that inspired him...

originally published on CounterPunch Nearly 15 years since its fiery debut, Bush’s “War on Terror” has somehow (and for some time now, too) been banalized into the humdrum of Obama’s permanent war; in light of this, as terrorism continues to simultaneously deviate from and reflect social norms, it seems entirely fitting that the two people vying for the presidency of the United States should be terrorists themselves. More than merely corrupt (that euphemism for criminal), or incompetent, in the course of her tenure as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly committed acts of ...more »

[image: The sun rises behind the Statue of Liberty a day before the United States celebrates its independence, Sunday, July 3, 2016, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)] NEW YORK (AP) -- From fireworks soaring above the Washington Monument to hot dogs being downed in New York City’s famed frank-eating contest, Americans aren’t shy about celebrating their nation’s birthday. Many places are rolling out long-established Independence Day traditions...more »

[image: LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 14: Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton (L) tastes ice-cream as she visits La Flor De Michoacan Ice Cream October 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Clinton continued to campaign in the area one day after the first Democratic presidential debate.] Everyone from the FBI to Bill Clinton seemed intent on giving Hillary Clinton’s months-old e-mail scandal fresh legs last week. Now Hillary herself is getting in on the act. The FBI interviewed Hillary on Saturday, leading many to believe the investigation...more »

[image: Tattered] There is no freedom in America more fundamental than the freedom of religion, but on this Fourth of July, as we celebrate the 240th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, that freedom is under serious assault. It is not an...more »

Trump is probably correct when he says the global elite is out the get him and that they'd prefer Hillary over him. They'd also prefer Hillary over Bernie, probably by even higher numbers. But can there really be any doubt that every dedicated enemy of America is rooting for Trump to win the presidency? And in the case of Putin, one suspects the rooting is more than just passive cheering from the sidelines. Actually, that may very well be the case with Daesh/ISIS fanatics as well-- and for the same exact reasons-- a bubbling idiot in the White House sewing discord and disharmony e...more »

SourceSince January 2014, the last 2 and half years, 770 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published in scholarly journals that call into question just how settled the “consensus” science is that says anthropogenic or CO2 forcing dominates weather and climate changes, or that non-anthropogenic factors play only a relatively minor and inconsequential role. (LINK) Just a paragraph from a post on Pierre Gosselin's great blog NoTricksZone*.* It was written by Kenneth Richard who goes on to say: Instead of supporting the “consensus” science, these 770 papers support the position...more »

Today started early, as I dropped hubby off at the Asheville airport at 6:00 am and then continued north on I 26 to begin my North American adventure. I drove north through Tennessee and the western tip of Virginia, entering Kentucky at its southeastern boundary. My intention was to first visit the Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve, in order to get a glimpse of the area’s natural landscape, before heading off to see decapitated mountains. Unfortunately, the topless mountains are visible as soon as you enter the state of Kentucky from the southeast. Eastern Kentucky is depressed ...more »

[image: Puppy wearing USA themed glasses and necklace accesories] The percentage of people saying they are "extremely proud" to be American is at a 16-year low, with millennials and liberals accounting for the least patriotic groups. A Gallup survey released Friday showed levels of patriotism are at their lowest...more »

A journal has retracted a paper by a leading diabetes researcher — who has also issued three corrections — after questions about her research were raised on PubPeer. Kathrin Maedler — who works at the University of Bremen in Germany — corrected another paper in 2014. All of the notices are dated from 2015, and all describe issues with […] The post Diabetes researcher logged 1 retraction, 3 correx, after PubPeer comments appeared first on Retraction Watch.

*From* *Jenna Orkin* The money Jeremy Corbyn received from Iran demands an explanation A huge German firm just revealed how badly Brexit delays will hurt the country Here's how drone usage is set to explode by 2020 NYPD Is Prepared For War With ISIS US' Largest Private Coal Miner To Layoff 80% Of Staff Due To "Obama's Ongoing Destruction" Queen Urges "Keep Calm" As Scotland Seeks To Block Brexit There’s A Deadly Problem With Our Water Hardly Anyone’s Talking About Dhaka Terrorists Were From Affluent Families, Studied in Elite Schools Nigel Farage has resigned as leader of the UK In...more »

Subban and sport collide cause they have the same Agenda me its not often the serfs and masters meet in the marketplace and exchange handshakes and pleasantries and it soon tuns to war because the individual thinks he can over lord the master and no matter how great no matter how generous the serf will die or be traded to another master hoping for a more observeraznt slave and that is professional hockey' well paid slaves who just pick the crooners and hit in the coroners and if they want to be better than than that ask the coack 2who alwasys says no noon ono I coudl not do that My team ...more »

This BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36700667 reveals that once again poverty is not a factor in Islamist terrorism, something that the left like to pretend is the case. 'The attackers are all Bangladeshis from rich families and with good educations, according to Bangladeshi's home minister Asaduzzaman Khan.'

[image: Belgium Britain EU] LONDON (AP) -- The head of the U.K. Independence Party, Nigel Farage, resigned Monday as party leader, the latest political leader to tumble amid the political turmoil following the country’s vote to leave the European Union. Farage’s departure makes him...more »

Is there such a thing as blogger’s block? I suppose there must be. I’ve found the whole Donald Trump saga to be emotionally exhausting. It’s hard to write more than 140 characters about this presidential race. How is it possible that he could or will be the nominee of a major party? Which groups has he […]

[image: In this Monday July 4, 2016 TV grab from footage released by Al-Ekhbariya, Saudi security forces investigate the scene of an explosion in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A suicide bomber carried out an attack early Monday near an American diplomatic site in the western Saudi city of Jeddah, according to the Interior Ministry. (Al-Ekhbariya via AP)] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A suicide bomber carried out an attack early on Monday near the U.S. Consulate in the western Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah, according to the Interior Ministry. The ministry said the attacker detonated his...more »

SSBN-726 Ohio-Class FBM Submarines. FAS.org *Motherboard:* *Emerging Sub Spotting Technology Threatens Nuclear Deterrence* Somehow through 70 years of nuclear buildup we've managed to avoid complete annihilation or worse. No world leader has pushed the button or turned the key or made the call, no volleys of ICBMs have been launched from cornfield silos, no squadrons of bombers have taken off on one last nuclear-armed flight. We are alive, even though, as any reasonable alien observer might conclude, we should not be. Some large part of this of course has to do with our old friend ...more »

Members of the New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau monitor Times Square as security increases leading up to the July 4 holiday weekend in Manhattan, New York, U.S., July 1, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly *Reuters:* *Tight security at July 4th fests to counter terror fears, gun violence* The United States celebrates July Fourth on Monday with parades, hotdog eating contests and fireworks shows amid heightened security because of concerns about terrorism in New York and timeworn holiday gun violence in Chicago. Millions of Americans will mark independence from Britain w...more »

July 16, 2010: Hossein Salami, deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. (Reuters) *Jerusalem Post:* *Iranian military official: We have 100,000 missiles in Lebanon ready to hit Israel* According to Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the IRGC, "the opportunity to destroy Israel is now better than ever." President Rouhani said the last year’s nuclear deal “was the cheapest way to achieve Iran’s goals and interests.” Speaking in Tehran on Saturday at an iftar meal breaking the Ramadan fast, Rouhani said the pre-Iran nuclear-deal era is past and Iran now needs to take advantage of...more »

*(Click on Image to Enlarge)* *Jason Burke, The Guardian:* *As Isis strikes, al-Qaida plays the long game in Islamist supremacy struggle* *Attacks in Turkey and Bangladesh may be part of a desperate Isis attempt to keep the dream of a caliphate alive* If their aim is to capture public attention, then last week can be counted as a success for terrorists. Despite the post-Brexit crisis, Islamist militants managed to cut through the noise. They did this with two high-profile attacks. One on Turkey’s main international airport left 41 people dead. A second, almost 4,000 miles away in...more »

Photographs of the terrorists released by the ISIS appear to tally with the terrorists gunned down by the security forces after an 11-hour siege. *NDTV/AFP*: *Bangladeshi Rich Kids Who Grew Up To Be Jihadists* DHAKA, BANGLADESH: Well-educated and hailing from wealthy families, the gunmen who killed 20 hostages in a Bangladesh cafe defy the increasingly outdated stereotype of jihadists from poor backgrounds who have been radicalised in madrassas. Six young men were shot dead Saturday at the end of the all-night siege in a Dhaka cafe claimed by the ISIS group. One may have been an ...more »

Istanbul Airport Attack *Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst*: *ISIS' Ramadan terror campaign* (CNN)In the past two weeks, ISIS has conducted lethal terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and also, very likely, in Turkey. On Thursday, a senior government official said there is strong evidence of ISIS involvement in planning the attack on the Istanbul airport. Still, ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the most lethal terrorist attack ever at an airport. On Friday, ISIS did claim responsibility for the attack by multiple gunmen at a café in the diplomati...more »

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF chief Benny Gantz at a press conference in Tel Aviv on July 28, 2014. Photo credit: Ofer Vaknin *AMIR TIBON, Politico*: *Netanyahu vs. the Generals* Israel’s prime minister is fighting hard to weaken the most important moderate force in his country. Which is why he’s going to be a big problem for the next U.S. president. Ehud Barak hadn’t given a speech in months, and speculation was rife about what he was going to say when he took the stage at a prestigious policy conference in Herzliya, an affluent suburb ...more »

*July 4, 2016* (Ulson Gunnar - NEO) - The Washington Post in its recent article, "How Obama went from reluctant warrior to drone champion," attempts to address the White House's recent claims regarding civilian casualties resulting from US drone strikes since 2009. The article points out that while the US officially claims "between 64 and 116" civilians have been killed, it also includes estimates from various think-tanks and pro-war propaganda outlets admitting to at least 200-300 civilian deaths. However, even these numbers are conservatively low, and in the Washington Post's at...more »

A journal has retracted a case report after discovering it had already been reported. The paper — about an “extremely rare” instance where a fetus was diagnosed with both a form of dwarfism and a chromosomal condition known as Klinefelter syndrome — was retracted from Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CROG). The first author of the paper told […] The post One patient, two case reports: Journal retracts the latter appeared first on Retraction Watch.

[image: FILE - In this June 28, 2016 file photo, work continues on the main stage for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Donald Trump’s team promises an extraordinary display of political entertainment at the Republican National Convention, with the accent on entertainment.(AP Photo/Mark Gillispie, File)] CLEVELAND (AP) -- Donald Trump’s team promises an extraordinary display of political entertainment at this month’s Republican National Convention, with the accent on entertainment. The former reality television star plans to feature his high-profile children at the sum...more »

'Think about what happened for a moment. At an event to launch a report into Labour's attitude to anti-Semitism, the leader of the Labour Party – in a prepared script – thought the most appropriate thing he could say was: "Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu Government than our Muslim friends are for those of various self-styled Islamic states or organisations." One might say that the irony that he was launching a report condemning inappropriate comparisons with Israel was lost on him. But, as I will explain, it wasn't lost at all;...more »

As anyone could have easily predicted, Trump is ripping open the seams that bind the Republican Party together. Friday, Mark Winslow, "a member of the Tennessee Republican State Executive Committee says he's resigning his position, blasting state party leaders and questioning the direction of the Tennessee Republican Party on his way out. In his resignation letter, Mark Winslow said the party's "soul rotted away some time ago"... As it's currently constituted, the TNGOP is really nothing more than a small corrupt core group who view our party as their private club and personal pig...more »

[image: California state flag] California's underage police sex scandal just won't stop growing. Richmond's police chief reassigned two police officers who are under investigation after a teenage former prostitute claimed to have slept with dozens of law enforcement officers at multiple departments. The teen's allegations have...more »

By Paul Homewood http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/07/04/wind-industry-lawyer-brexit-help-us-kill-birds-bats/ The inimitable Dellers: Good news for bird-haters and bat-loathers. A lawyer working for the wind industry says there may, after all, be a silver lining to the Brexit vote: apparently, once Britain is independent, we’ll be freed of all those pesky EU regulations designed to protect our […]

*"We Are Running"* "We are running, running and time is clocking us from the edge like an only daughter. Our mothers stream before us, cradling their breasts in their hands. Oh pray that what we want is worth this running, pray that what we’re running toward is what we want." ~ Lucille Clifton

“It would be easy to say that we owe it all to the Bush family from Texas, but that would be too simplistic. They are only errand boys for the vengeful, bloodthirsty cartel of raving Jesus-freaks and super-rich money mongers who have ruled for at least the last 20 years, and arguably the last 200 years. They take orders well, and they don’t ask too many questions. The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees, except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don’t mind admitting it...more »

*“Clinton, Trump: Both Products of the Deep State”* by Bill Bonner "Good news for investors… US stocks went up again Friday. This brought the Dow to within 60 points of the psychologically important 18,000-mark. And grim news from our ranch in Argentina… Here’s a report we got yesterday from our man on the scene: ‘The war with the originarios [the local indigenous people who believe they have a claim on the land] has settled down. The police were at the ranch for a couple weeks. Things were tense. But now it is so cold, everybody seems to have forgotten about it. The temperature [i...more »

*"Analyst: Deutsche Bank Insolvent; * *Value now MINUS €300 BILLION; Before Derivatives!"* by Newsroom "Deutsche Bank is "insolvent" according to an analyst who says *the bank is worth negative €300 Billion and when Derivatives are factored-in, the Bank is worth almost negative €1 trillion! * Move the clock ahead 7-1/2 years for Lehman Brothers and insert a second scale for the comparison to D-Bank. *Click image for larger size.* The chart has many similarities in the descent path. However, many differences exist. Lehman was a mortgage bond event. Deutsche Bank is a universal banking...more »

“Namibia has some of the darkest nights visible from any continent. It is therefore home to some of the more spectacular skyscapes, a few of which have been captured in the below time-lapse video. We recommend watching this video at FULL SCREEN (1080p), with audio on. The night sky of Namibia is one of the best in the world, about the same quality of the deserts of Chile and Australia. Visible at the movie start are unusual quiver trees perched before a deep starfield highlighted by the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. This bright band of stars and gas appears to pivot around...more »

*"Know Thyself"* by Chet Raymo "The ancient Greek aphorism, attributed to Socrates and others. Good advice, I'm sure. If only we knew what it means. Is it the same as the "examination of conscience" we were asked to perform as young Catholics? "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." Well, yes, it is good to ask ourselves if we have lived up to our highest moral aspirations. But surely "Know thyself" means more than that. Does it mean to be aware of our self-awareness? That is to say, not to act impulsively, but reflectively. Thoreau's "I went to the woods because I wished to live d...more »

"What matter if this base, unjust life Cast you naked and disarmed? If the ground breaks beneath your step, Have you not your soul? Your soul! You fly away, Escape to realms refined, Beyond all sadness and whimpering. Be like the bird which on frail branches balanced A moment sits and sings; He feels them tremble, but he sings unshaken, Knowing he has wings." – Victor Hugo

*"Do You Feel Useful?"* by Paulo Coelho "Ask a flower in the field: ‘Do you feel useful? After all, you do nothing but produce the same flowers over and over?’ And the flower will answer: ‘I am beautiful, and beauty is my reason for living.’ Ask the river: ‘Do you feel useful, given that all you do is to keep flowing in the same direction?’ And the river will answer: ‘I’m not trying to be useful, I’m trying to be a river.’ Nothing in this world is useless in the eyes of God. Not a leaf from a tree falls, not a hair from your head, not even an insect dies because it was of no use. ...more »

“The worst that could happen to us is that we have to die, and since that is already our unalterable fate, we are free; those who have lost everything no longer have anything to fear. Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm’s length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he’s about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, ‘I haven’t touched you ...more »

"Sweet Darkness" "When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love. The dark will be your womb tonight. The night will give you a horizon further than you can see. You must learn one thing: the world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you a...more »

*“Why The Collapse Of The U.S. Economic & Financial System Has Accelerated”* By the SRSrocco Report "The collapse of the U.S. economic and financial system accelerated this year, thus pushing the country closer to a third-world status. Most Americans are unaware of the dire consequences facing the nation, so they continue to believe business as usual will continue indefinitely. Unfortunately, lousy reporting by the Mainstream media along with the public's denial and delusional thinking is a recipe for disaster for most Americans over the next several years. The U.S. economy is bein...more »

*“5 Worst Right-Wing Moments This Week: * *Katrina Pierson Divorces Reality for Good”* by Janet Allon "A good deal of the notable right-wing spewage this week emerged from the nexus of nutjobs that loosely make up the Trump camp. Of course, the fish stinks from the head, and Trump is nothing if not a stinky head, suggesting at one point that we do “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” to combat terror. Here’s a review of what you might have missed. *1. Katrina Pierson set a new record for speed lying. *(Hillary vows to retake the crown... - CP) Before he suggested the U.S. amp...more »

*“Reality Is So 20th Century”* By Gerald Celente “It was during the 1980s when its replacement began to emerge. With pricey computers and clunky graphics, the primitive technology of “virtual reality” projected graphic representations onto computer screens, showing scenes that would move or turn with you, creating the illusion that you’re physically in the middle of a parallel reality. But virtual reality, or VR, is no longer just a suburb of Geekville. A January 2016 Goldman Sachs market study pegged the newly blossoming VR market at between $80 billion and $182 billion by 2025, a...more »

*“Legal Analysis: Hillary’s 3 1/2 Hour FBI ‘Interview’”* by Newsroom “Hillary Clinton gave a voluntary "interview" to the FBI Saturday for three and a half hours, and the initial legal analysis from criminal defense experts is that Hillary is doomed! The "interview" concerned, among other things, Hillary using a private, insecure, computer server located inside her home, for official US State Department business while she was Secretary of State. Some of the information sent to and from that server is alleged to have been Classified, Secret, Top Secret and even Special Access Program...more »

*“A Moment Of Choice: Starting New”* by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM "We can choose to start over in this very moment, there is no need to wait for a new year or a new month or a new week. There are times in our lives that lend themselves to starting something new. The beginning of a new year, finishing school, leaving a job, or changing homes—these all are times that turn our minds to fresh starts. Their advantage is that they bring with them the energy of that event, creating a tide of change around them that we can ride to our next shoreline. But we can choose to start anew anyti...more »

"Some people appear to be happy, but they simply don't give the matter much thought. Others make plans: I'm going to have a husband, a home, two children, a house in the country. As long as they're busy doing that, they're like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they react instinctively, they blunder on, with no idea where the target is. They get their car, sometimes they even get a Ferrari, and they think that's the meaning of life, and they never question it. Yet their eyes betray the sadness that even they don't know they carry in their soul. *Are you happy?*" - Paulo Coelho

[image: University Of Virginia Fraternity At Center Of Disputed Rolling Stone Magazine Story On Alleged Gang Rape Incident] RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Rolling Stone magazine published a story in November 2014 describing in chilling detail a student’s account of being brutally raped by seven men at the University of Virginia. Several days later the magazine’s editors received an...more »

[image: Smartphones - 900] On Thursday in anticipation of our imminent move to small town Wyoming, my wife and I needed to do a bit of shopping and so we went to Tyson's Corner Center, a huge shopping mall here in Northern Virginia. The...more »

[image: WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 30: Carie Lemack, who lost her mother Judy Larocque in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, holds a copy of the 9/11 Commision Report during a press conference November 30, 2004 in Washington, DC. The press conference, sponsored by the 9/11 Family Steering Committee and the 9/11 Commission Caucus, was held to discuss attempts to overcome opposition with the Republican leadership to intelligence reform legislation. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)] WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid the clamor a year ago to release 28 still-secret pages of a congressional inquiry i...more »

*Neutrinos*: Fermilab's NOvA has found a 2.5-sigma evidence against the maximum mixing of neutrino flavors. Nine years ago, on July 4th, I escaped from the U.S. a few days after my visas expired (it was the only available date – Americans were reasonably afraid of another terrorist attack on that day). Five years later, on the Higgsdependence Day, the Higgs boson was officially discovered at CERN. But 240 years ago, several important men signed the Declaration of Independence, mostly penned by Thomas Jefferson. This 6-minute-long school video project was created by a girl and h...more »

[image: Pregnant Woman, Pregnancy, Baby, Sonogram, Ultrasound, Human Life, Pro-life] There’s no getting around the fact that the Supreme Court struck a blow to the pro-life movement in its June decision on a Texas abortion law. There were tears of joy among abortion-rights activists when the decision was handed down....more »

[image: Declraation of Independance with feather quill on wood surface] When reading the Declaration of Independence, it is easy to focus only on the sweeping language of the second paragraph and skip over the names and mutual pledge of the signers at its conclusion. Though the principles enunciated in its...more »

By Paul Homewood http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/02/it-might-seem-bad-now-but-wait-until-the-lights-go-out/ Booker on the Fifth Carbon Budget: In view of the shambles engulfing our politics in all directions, it might seem appropriate that last Thursday MPs should blithely have accepted that, within a few years, our lights will go out and our economy will grind to a halt. What […]

A San Diego County Registrar insider claims that hundreds of thousands of California Democratic primary provisional ballots have been illegally destroyed in a covert shredding operation. A consignment of boxes was delivered to the San Diego Registrar’s Office at 5600 Overland Ave in the morning and an “oversized shredding van” arrived minutes later and took the boxes away. The boxes were carried from the building to the vehicle by men she had never seen before wearing dark blue overalls. “I asked my boss and a few other people what the boxes were about because as far as I knew we we...more »

[image: American Flag in Afghanistan] For 24 straight hours, U.S. service members at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan kept the American and POW/MIA flags in constant motion in honor of U.S. prisoners of war and those missing in action. To me, this photo sums up...more »

The alleged on-going land reclamation of China at Subi reef is seen from Pagasa island (Thitu Island) in the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, May 11, 2015. REUTERS/RITCHIE B. TONGO/POOL/FILE PHOTO *Reuters*: *Ahead of key court ruling, Beijing in propaganda overdrive* As an international tribunal prepares to rule on Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea, officials in Washington, Tokyo and Southeast Asia are on tenterhooks. Yet, in the words of one senior Chinese official, Beijing does not care. On July 12, the Permanent C...more »

Parents and children run toward a V-22 Osprey, which takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane, during Fleet Week in New Rochelle, New York, in 2015. Seven of the aircraft have been destroyed in crashes, and there have been 36 fatalities. *Jon Schwarz, The Intercept:* *GUNS AND HOTDOGS* *How the U.S. Military Promotes Its Weapons Arsenal to the Public.* America’s wars take place far away — Kabul is 6,700 miles from New York or, travelling in the other direction, 7,400 miles from San Francisco. They also involve fewer and fewer Americans — the Army now has about 475,000 ac...more »

Afghanistan Times *VOA:* *China Delivers First Batch of Military Aid to Afghanistan* ISLAMABAD—Afghanistan has received its first batch of Chinese military equipment as part of Beijing’s commitment to provide millions of dollars of assistance to help Kabul fight terrorism. The shipment on board a Russian cargo plane arrived Sunday in Kabul where Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing handed it over to Afghan National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar. The cargo apparently contained among other things logistical equipment, parts of military vehicles, ammunition and weapons for the Afghan National ...more »

*Sarah Sicard, Task & Purpose:* *8 Military Blunders That Were So Bad They Became Legendary* Everyone makes mistakes … militaries included. The internet is packed with YouTube videos, news stories, and Facebook pages dedicated to bizarre military blunders. Just a few months ago, Task & Purpose even reported about a British helicopter that created a literal shit storm by blowing down a row of porta-potties. In most cases, if a military makes a mistake, people, cities, or multi-million dollar vessels become heart-wrenching examples of collateral damage. However, in these eight case...more »

*Kyle Mizokami, National Interest*: *National Interest: Revealed: How the Warsaw Pact Planned to Win World War Three in Europe* *Imagine huge numbers of Soviet combat divisions streaming across Germany.* Last month in the National Interest we discussed NATO’s plan for World War III in Europe. The scenario, set in the late 1980s, assumed that the forces of the Soviet Union and the rest of the Warsaw Pact—namely East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary—steamrollered West Germany to defeat NATO. The plan assumed the western alliance would defend as far forward as possible whi...more »

*Washington Post:* *Near Russia’s border with the Baltics, soldiers on both sides are practicing for war* VORU, Estonia — When unidentified aircraft were speeding toward northern Estonia one recent day, British fighter jets stationed nearby scrambled to intercept them. Screaming across the country, they quickly identified the targets: two Russian fighters and a spy plane. It was just the latest confrontation between the West and Russia in a region that has fast become a tripwire for conflict between nuclear superpowers. In the two years since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Penin...more »

*(Click on Image to Enlarge)* *Washington Times:* *New low: Gallup poll says only 52% are ‘extremely proud’ to be Americans* Only 52 percent of U.S. adults say they are “extremely proud” to be Americans in the latest Gallup poll, representing a new low in the question’s 16-year trend. As Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day, the Gallup analysis said that the declining patriotism is “likely related to broader dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S.” “The vast majority of U.S. adults indicate they are at least moderately proud to be Americans, but as th...more »

Reader Ruth reminded me that poet Sam Hunt is 70 today (thanks Ruth) – a performance poet whose poems, he says, are "songs for the tone-deaf" – so before the day is over let’s celebrate the great man who introduced many of us to poetry in a pub somewhere, and who most of us involuntarily imitate when we recite, with a recent (from his latest book of poems, *Salt River Songs*) and a non-recent look at his work: And try performing one for yourself, recited (of course) in the manner of Sam’: Tommorrow, or today (2) We prepare for departure, no see-you-later; we make our go...more »

*“Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it—that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life—that the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and your existence.”* ~ Ayn Rand, from ‘Galt’s Speech’ in For the New Intellectual . Content is c...more »

Unearthly Adventure Comics #255 had a cover date of June of 1958 and appeared on newsstands in April of that year. It returned to the science fiction tropes of issue #251, giving the first hints as to the cosmos around Earth. Cast of Characters - Robert Builder/The Atomizer - Reporter for the Port Henry Times-Herald, nuclear man granted powers by Trinity nuclear test. - Susan Samiel - Widowed reporter for the Port Henry Times-Herald, sorceress. Specializes in binding magic. - US-Polaris 1 - Robot space probe invented by Jack Parsons. Altered by aliens and now pos...more »

*Judge Jeanine Pirro* Must watch video editorial by a real US judge, Judge Jeanine Pirro about the ramifications of the obstruction of justice allegations against Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch. Good to have my legal instincts validated by such an authoritative source! I never heard of this TV news analyst before but she and I are absolutely on the same wave length about the seriousness of Bill Clinton's meeting with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch. It is the end of the road for both of them...and for Hillary Clinton. Either that...or the US can kiss its legal system goodbye. ...more »

To my mind Woody Guthrie has always been a model for young artists. That The Clash picked up so quickly on what Woody was doing in using his music to fight against fascism, helped rocket them to the top of my charts-- and keep them there-- from 1977 through *Combat Rock* in 1982. Meanwhile, Woody had died, just 55 years old, in almost a decade before The Clash formed. Last January I learned that Woody had written a song about Trump's racist/fascist father, Fred, "Old Man Trump" and wrote about it here at *DWT*. At the end of 1950 Woody rented an apartment from Trump in the Beach ...more »

[image: Constitution originalism] Today as we gather with loved ones to remember the birth of America, it's easy to forget that our country almost choked to death in the cradle. Of course we won freedom from Britain in 1783, but for the first...more »

I've always thought that if you paid close attention for long enough that every single confusing and confused government event would be eventually uncloaked in all its freshly-revealed, career-advancing "glory." After all did you really believe that this young man was involved in this type of public mayhem under his own aegis after being questioned/interviewed/recruited earlier by the NSA/FBI/

Staten Island Republican Michael Grimm was charged with 20 criminal counts-- instead of 200-- and permitted to plead guilty to just one, resign from Congress and serve a couple of easy months in a Club Fed prison. He's already back on the street. A Mafia-oriented career in crime that went back decades was never even looked at seriously because of Grimm's first-hand knowledge of rampant criminality inside the FBI. One of his business partners, Bennett Orfaly, didn't get off as lightly Friday. Well, he *almost* got off as lightly. Ex-Rep. Michael Grimm’s mobbed-connected business pa...more »

[image: Bible and Rosary - 900] A psychiatrist and professor has worked with victims of demonic possession for decades, and he says America's exorcisms are on the rise. Richard Gallagher, a certified psychiatrist and clinical psychiatry professor at New York Medical College, works with Catholic priests...more »

"4 more years" "4 more years" "4 more years"..... Canadian Parliament burst into chants of "Four More Years" after US President Obama's speech June 29th...... ARE YOU FUCKIN' KIDDING ME?!? I'm sorry, but anyone who doesn't take notice of this extreme piece of NOTICE needs to wake up. Canadian Members of Parliament are perfectly well aware that American limitations on the oval office are two terms. Not Three. They are perfectly well aware that it's ILLEGAL for any president to seek a third term in office....... ..... so for Canadian Parliament to start chanting "Four More Yea...more »

*Tesla’s driver was too busy watching Harry Potter and Google’s insanity knows no boundaries!* *Gives a whole new meaning to the term vehicular manslaughter, no? * * You understand that a zombie is dead/alive?* *That is how I see people who rely way too much on technology Zombified. Zombie. Zombificated. And if that offends you? Good!* *I’m glad that I have offended you. **Perhaps it will get you easily offended persons thinking about the bad impression you leave on us non- zombie/ really alive people?* *When you choose to rely on not so smart technology instead of your own smarts-...more »

*"If it is ever proper for men to kneel, we should kneel when we read the Declaration of Independence... probably the greatest document in human history, both philosophically and literarily.”* ~ Ayn Rand. American was raised in the philosophy of the Enlightenment and born in an individualist’s revolution. It was a revolution for *freedom* – the first country ever, it was said, to give that word full political meaning. It embraced it once. But sinking slowly into the ooze Americans now embrace, those days are long gone. The ideals once embraced on battlefields both intellectu...more »

[image: PublicWorksAct] If you ever thought the National Party was committed to proptecting your property rights (maybe because you read the National Party constitution once and thought they meant a word of it) then if you hadn't had that illusion shattered by their confiscation of private property in Christchurch after the earthquake -- if you hadn't *already* had it shattered by their introduction of the Resource Management Act (RMA) back in 1993 -- then Nick Smith’s announcement at his party’s conference over the weekend that he might seize property to “fix”the problem cause...more »

*Elite New York school tells white children they should be ashamed of their privilege and segregates pupils by race* *A clear racist: "She added that the answer to racism is for white kids to see the 'race in everything'"* Parents with children at an elite Manhattan school are furious about a diversity program that segregates pupils by race and claims that 'even white babies are capable of racism'. Bank Street School for Children on the Upper West Side has said the approach is intended to 'fight discrimination' by creating a 'dedicated space' in the school for kids of color. B...more »

*Upper atmosphere cooling, CO2 and bluish sunsets* *Global warming causes everything and everything is caused by warming. That seems to be the dogma of the Warmists. So we must not be surprised that global warming has been drafted in to explain noctilucent clouds, or more precisely, their greater incidence in recent decades. Their story is excerpted below. The problem below lies with this statement: "While increasing carbon dioxide warms the surface of the Earth, those same molecules refrigerate the upper atmosphere". It is a conventional explanation of the ...more »

A 24-year-old Iranian Hulk named Sajad Gharibi has volunteered to fight ISIS in Syria. The 330 pound power lifter can lift up to 386 pounds and is nicknamed the Iranian Hulk. Esquire reports: According to a BBC report, the strongman has signed up to join Iranian forces to fight ith the Assad regime in Syria against ISIS. Can you even imagine going up against this dude? I wouldn’t be surprised if ISIS fighters dropped their weapons and surrendered as soon as they felt his earth-shaking footsteps approaching. Here’s a 100% accurate depiction of what the battles might look like:

German Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel is offering dual citizenship to thousands of disgruntled young people following the brexit vote. Young Britons living in Germany should be offered dual citizenship, according to Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, because it was largely older voters who opted to leave the European Union. The Independent reports: Speaking at a meeting with the Social Democratic Party in Berlin on Saturday, Sigmar Gabriel, who is also the Economy Minister, said the UK’s referendum was a further reason to campaign to relax t...more »

*"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference"(For a perspective on Wiesel's "last years," see below)* *The 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, "who used his moral authority to force attention on atrocities around the world" (as Emily Langer puts it in her WaPo obit), in 2004* *Eye-Witness and Messenger* *The Jewish author, philosopher and humanist Elie Wiesel has made it his life's work to bear witness to the genocide committed by the Nazis during World War II. Today he is the world's leading spokesman on the Holocaust.After Hitler's forces had moved into Hungary in 1944...more »

﻿ Albert Marrin is a history professor who has written dozens books for young readers. In *Black Gold*, he discussed the geology of fossil energy, emergence of the oil industry, geopolitics, oil wars, environmental impacts, and future challenges. I was intrigued by his perspective on geopolitics. Before World War One, the British navy scrapped many coal-burning warships and began building modern boats that ran on oil. This gave them a big advantage over the German navy. The era of industrial warfare had arrived. Nations with tanks, trucks, and planes could easily smash horse...more »

[image: In this June 7, 2016, file photo, former President Bill Clinton, left, stands on stage with his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, after she spoke during a presidential primary election night rally in New York.] WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton and her high-powered campaign stand-ins are talking about trust everywhere they speak these days, and for good reason. On Sunday’s news shows, Sen. Sherrod Brown, R-Ohio, and Labor Secretary Tom Perez explicitly talked about Clinton...more »

[image: Smog blankets the Los Angeles, California skyline in this undated photo.] The average red states' air is 10 percent cleaner than the average blue state, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data analyzed by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The EPA data tracks average exposure to small particulates, which kill roughly 5.5 million people globally every year and cause...more »

Following claims that Vladimir Putin has over ten thousands Hillary Clinton emails in his possession, the FBI may ask the Russian leader to let them see his copies. The FBI have failed to obtain over 30,000 Hillary Clinton emails that she deleted from her private email server – and it seems many of these highly incriminating emails may be in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton has urged the FBI to beg Putin for his copies of the emails. Breitbart.com reports: A combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Sen. Thomas Cotton (R.-Ark.) said...more »

The CIA have released an astonishing report on their website that confirms the existence of a U.S. weather modification program that produces chemtrails in the skies. A speech given by CIA director Director John O. Brennan to the Council on Foreign Relations was transcribed and uploaded to the CIA’s official website on 29th June, 2016. In the speech, Brennan admits that geoengineering via chemtrails could help reduce global temperatures in an effort to “combat global warming”. “Another example is the array of technologies—often referred to collectively as geoengineering—that potent...more »

[image: George-Washington-at-Prayer-900] Years ago, Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop penned their book, Whatever Happened to the Human Race? It was a book that warned of the decisions that were being made within a culture stepping into new and terrifying terrain. They...more »

The US government has declassified a report known as ‘File 17’ that suggests Saudi Arabia helped some of the 9/11 hijackers fly planes into the Twin Towers. The report lists over three dozen people that investigators want to question for clues of possible links the Saudi regime may have to the hijackers. Rt.com reports: The document, known as “File 17,” was compiled by Dana Lesemann and Michael Jacobson. It offers clues as to what may be hidden in the secret 28 pages of the congressional report on the 9/11 attacks, which is rumored to implicate the Saudis. “Much of the information ...more »

The Kremlin have admitted that Edward Snowden is a Russian agent for the FSB – Russia’s domestic intelligence agency. Despite Snowden and his representatives repeatedly insisting that he is not a Russian spy, his relationship with the Kremlin has come under close scrutiny recently and has subsequently revealed his close ties and allegiance with the Russian security services. Bild.de reports: Since Wikileaks itself is now more or less openly a front for the Kremlin, with its head Julian Assange mouthing pro-Putin propaganda with increasing frequency, there’s no reason to take its cl...more »

Top celebrity psychic Michelle Whitedove has made a chilling prediction for Independence Day, warning New York residents that ISIS are about to commit a deadly attack. Whitedove told readers of her website that she envisions ISIS bombers targeting NYC via a bombing campaign designed to instil terror in Americans. Michellewhitedove.com reports: As I was in prayer this afternoon, with Psychic Insights I heard that New York City is being targeted this July 4th Independence weekend. This is not a false flag event. I’m being given more than one explosion. I see visions of the Statue of ...more »

Russia have accused Turkey of desperately trying to cover-up their role in supporting and funding ISIS following the Istanbul airport attack last week. Azhdar Kurtov, chief editor of the RISS journal “National Strategy Issues”, says that the blame for the 28 June 2016 attack which killed 45 people lies with the Turkish government. Pravdareport.com reports: As he said, ‘if the cap fits, wear it. Turkey reaps what it sowed. After collapse of the USSR, Turkey has carried out an extremely aggressive policy, cultural, political, economic expansionism against the so-called Turkic states,...more »

A US terror chief has warned that an inevitable terror attack is going to strike New York City on July 4th, as NYPD prepare to counter an attack by ISIS militants. The head of the Counterterrorism Bureau of the NYPD told ABC News, “I think that it’s inevitable that there’ll be another attack in this country,” but reassured viewers that “we are well-prepared to respond to that.” Presstv.ir reports: Some 100 specially trained officers are ready 24/7 for deployment with high-powered weapons, radiation detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs. Calling the anti-terror operation “ring of steel,” ...more »

Thousands of California residents have begun stockpiling guns in defiance to the harsh new gun control laws imposed by Gov. Jerry Brown. “I work at a gun shop,” a member of Californians Opposing Gun Restrictions posted on the gun rights group’s Facebook page. “So I just want to inform the public that as of 430 PM, California ran over 4000 background checks for gun purchases, and most purchases were long guns (AR-15) and most were for multiple long guns. It was an average of 6500 guns purchased TODAY alone, at 430 PM.” Sacbee.com reports: Protesters from cities across Northern Calif...more »

I was cited in “The Unfolding Legacy of al-Qa’idA in Iraq: From al-Zarqawi to the New Islamic Caliphate” by Andrea Plebani. I was also mentioned in the British Home Office’s, “Country Information and Guidance Iraq: Security situation in Baghdad, the south and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)” and "Iraq: Situation of Sunnis in Baghdad" by LandInfo.

[image: rant-jpeg-b] Yes, it is Sunday, and again time for my weekly rant... Tomorrow is of course "Independence Day" for my neighbours south of the 49th parallel... It will be 240 years since the 13 original British colonies declared their "independence" from the British crown of King George III, and the new nation of the United States of America was officially born.... Or so it seems.... One thing that most Americans do not realize is that their nation is actually not independent of the British crown at all....Yes, in spite of all the rhetoric to the contrary, the United States ...more »

This is a post I didn't want to write, never expected to write. My good friend and former internet-sparring partner Eddie Truman passed away on Friday morning. He was just 53. I knew Eddie was in hospital but had no idea how seriously ill he was, so this came like a bolt from the blue. Shocked and numb just about described my feelings on hearing this dreadful news. Eddie was a long-time socialist activist from Leith. After a troubled time as a teenager (Eddie spent some of it hooked on heroin), he helped himself out of his predicament by getting involved with Militant. Cutting his ...more »

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I've been 'around' for a few years now, pursuing the shifting goal of a sharable home-made surfers resource site focused on ease of use and variety of mostly adult ( whoa : I didn't say prurient ) content.